[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Desmond Allen (Jamaica Observer) says that the Maroons of Jamaica, led by paramount chieftain and Queen of the Maroons Gaamang Gloria “Mama G” Simms, expressed remorse for the “bloody takedown of slave uprisings on behalf of British colonialists 283 years after.” Maroon paramount chieftain Derrick Prince Black X Robinson helped be sure that Chief Takyi be made a nationwide hero and that he can be commemorated yearly on April 8, formally declared Chief Takyi Day.
It took virtually three centuries, however on Good Friday 2022 the Maroons of Jamaica apologised for his or her sordid position in crushing standard anti-slavery uprisings and forcibly returning runaway slaves to hellish situations on British-owned sugar plantations, sullying their storied historical past.
Two of the extra well-known black rebellions put down by the British colonial forces with the stable help of the Maroons have been that led by West African slave Chief Takyi of St Mary in 1760 and Baptist Deacon Paul Bogle of Stony Intestine, St Thomas, in 1865.
Bogle and his key ally George William Gordon have been hanged however later named nationwide heroes of Jamaica, and simply two Fridays in the past, April 8 was formally declared Chief Takyi Day, henceforth to have a good time the liberty fighter credited with the primary slave rebellion within the Caribbean.
“We remorse the damage and sufferings brought about from such actions. We take whole duty on behalf of our ancestors,” mentioned paramount chieftainess and Queen of the Maroons Gaamang Gloria “Mama G” Simms, the lady now occupying the seat as soon as held by Queen Nanny of the Maroons, the one feminine among the many seven nationwide heroes. “…We realise that we can’t undo the previous, however we are able to treatment the conditions by reconciliatory actions that can restore the harm and rebuild belief in order that these behaviours won’t be repeated,” mentioned the Maroon non secular chief in a press assertion.
The Maroon queen, a tireless campaigner for the rights of indigenous peoples, used the platform of the Jamaica Observer to specific the long-awaited mea culpa, days earlier than she journeys to the United Nations to signify Diaspora and Jamaican Indigenous Peoples (Maroons and different African retention communities and the Taino tribe) on the everlasting discussion board on indigenous points.
Founding father of the Maroon Indigenous Ladies’s Circle, she can be a part of a delegation, which incorporates representatives from Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Dominica, Suriname, Sierra Leone, and Jamaica, made up of professors, human rights attorneys, and teachers from worldwide universities.
The archives of the Nationwide Library of Jamaica describe the Maroons as enslaved Africans and other people of African descent who ran away from their masters or house owners in the hunt for freedom, relationship again to 1655.
At the moment the Tainos and Africans who have been freed by the Spanish occupiers took to distant components of the island for refuge from the English invasion of that yr to determine their very own settlements. They grew to become a formidable pressure that considerably challenged the system of enslavement imposed by the English.
However recognising that the Maroons have been a thorn within the flesh that defied their superior forces, the British supplied them a treaty with a specific amount of autonomy, however cunningly included agreements to assist the British forces take down slave uprisings and return escaped slaves to the plantations.
However neither the British nor the Maroons had mentioned sorry for his or her actions in opposition to the slaves, till now.
The timing of Queen Gloria’s heartfelt apology on behalf of the Maroons seems to have been prompted by the declaration of Chief Takyi Day in a commemoration signed by the governor normal on the behest of Tradition Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange.
A Jamaican group led by Derrick Prince Black X Robinson, that has now gone worldwide, has been advocating that Chief Takyi be made a nationwide hero and the commemoration is being thought to be a step nearer to the final word Jamaican honour. The Maroon paramount chieftain who mentioned, “We should proceed to honour the sacrifices and bravado of those that fought”, embraced the Takyi Day declaration as “really befitting on this time… It’s time for us to carry the spirit of Sankofa to bear, to return and fetch what’s left behind to revive, it’s time to restore and heal”.
“Subsequently, as non secular chief of the Maroons, I declare April 8, yearly, as ‘Nationwide Reconciliation and Fact Day’ in recognition of all atrocities executed in historical past that concerned Maroons. And, as our elders would say, ‘When hassle tek yuh, pickney shut match yuh.’”
Precisely 262 years in the past this month Chief Takyi started his short-lived riot in St Mary that was brutally put down by the British with the help of the Maroons, however not earlier than catapulting him into the historical past of those that fought to make Jamaica impartial and galvanizing the Haitian Revolution that gave the world its first black republic.
On Easter Monday, April 7, 1760, Chief Takyi and his followers launched a fierce however bloody rebellion that claimed the lives of white masters and overseers on the Frontier plantation and culminated within the seize of Port Maria, the parish capital, from British colonial forces.
Paradoxically, the rebels have been impressed by the First Maroon Struggle that additionally occurred in Jamaica from 1728 to 1740, led by Queen Nanny of the Maroons. Nonetheless, the success of the Maroon struggle and the signing of their peace treaty with the British finally helped carry concerning the downfall of Takyi’s riot.
In her assertion to the Sunday Observer, the Maroon queen appeared to recommend that the British must also be held accountable, arguing that, of their wrestle for peaceable freedom, the Maroons signed an settlement with the British to suppress rebellions and return escapees from slavery, amongst different phrases set out within the treaty of 1739.
“This facet of our historical past has left behind lingering wounds that should be addressed by a reality and reconciliation course of… This [Chief Takyi Day] declaration comes from the governor normal, whose position is to signify the identical ruling energy that wrote the Maroon treaty, with clauses that demand them to suppress rebellions and seize the escaped enslaved. This was a battle of curiosity and stays a hurtful scar on our historical past. Allow us to, as liberators and freedom fighters, take duties for what our ancestors have executed. Allow us to transfer to heal the rifts,” Gaamang Simms urged.
For full article and accompanying photographs, see https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/information/maroons-finally-say-sorry
[Shown above: Paramount Chieftain and Queen of the Maroons Gamaang Gloria ‘Mama G’ Simms apologises on behalf of the Maroons of Jamaica.]
Additionally see “Jamaica Maroon chief apologizes for ancestors serving to Britain quell uprisings”
Nyamekye Daniel, Atlanta Black Star: https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/04/25/on-behalf-of-our-ancestors-jamaica-maroon-leader-apologizes-for-ancestors-helping-britain-quell-uprisings-after-the-group-won-their-own-freedom-gets-mixed-reaction-from-community